2018 Amsterdam stabbing attack

2018 Amsterdam stabbing attack
Amsterdam Centraal
LocationAmsterdam, Netherlands
Date31 August 2018
12:10 (CET)
TargetDutch citizens
Attack type
Knife attack, Islamic terrorism
WeaponsKnife
Deaths0
Injured3 (including perpetrator)
PerpetratorJawed Sultani
MotiveIslamic extremism, retaliation against "insults to Islam" in Netherlands
VerdictGuilty
ConvictionsTwo counts of attempted murder with terroristic intent
Threatening police (overturned)

On 31 August 2018, a knife attack occurred in Amsterdam Centraal station. Two American tourists were stabbed and injured in the station's western pedestrian tunnel before Amsterdam Regional Police shot and incapacitated the perpetrator, 19-year-old Afghan asylum seeker Jawed Sultani.

Authorities suspected an Islamist motive, later confirmed by questioning of the perpetrator, who admitted that the attack was a retaliatory act for disparaging statements against Islam by Party for Freedom leader Geert Wilders. In October 2019, Sultani was sentenced to 26 years and eight months imprisonment and required to pay €3,000,000 to the victims.